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The Truth about Guantánamo

by

Moazzam Begg

I have always believed that the secret detention sites - where prisoners were waterboarded - and military prisons, such as Bagram,
were far worse than Guantánamo. Now I'm not so sure. They once called
it "asymmetrical warfare" and a "good PR move" but the US
administration may soon have to call the alleged suicides of prisoners
in Guantánamo something they were trying to hide all along: murder.

The latest revelations
in the US magazine Harper's suggests a major cover-up occurred after
the 2006 deaths of three Guantánamo prisoners: Manei al-Otaibi and
Yasser al-Zahrani from Saudi Arabia and Ali al-Salami from Yemen. Four
Camp Delta Military Intelligence guards, including a decorated
sergeant, have furnished an account dramatically at odds with the official US version
of what happened on the night of the deaths. I remember at the time how
none of the former prisoners believed the official US version and,
after I spoke to the families of the deceased, they too remained
convinced that their loved ones had either been killed accidentally or
- more likely - murdered.

Last week Johina Aamer delivered a letter to Gordon Brown, asking him to press the US government for the release of her father, Shaker Aamer, who has been held in Guantánamo for more than eight years without charge.

Shaker
is regarded as one of the most influential prisoners in Guantánamo
because of his vociferous and passionate advocacy for prisoners'
rights. As a result of this he has spent many years in isolation, on
hunger strike and been forcibly fed liquid food through tubes in his
nostrils. At the time of the deaths Shaker told his US attorney,
Zachary Katznelson, that he was "strapped to a chair and fully
restrained at the head, arms and legs", and that they "cut off his
airway, then put a mask on him so he could not cry out". This is
similar to what the Harper's article claims happened to the three men
before they died. Shaker has also alleged that his head was repeatedly
slammed against a wall in Bagram in the presence of at least one
British intelligence officer.

Obama's 22 January 2010 deadline to
close the prison camp at Guantánamo has not been met. Few of the scores
of former prisoners I've spoken to over the last year ever believed it
would. The recent problems in Yemen and claims of "recidivism" by some
of the former prisoners has become the latest excuse in not releasing
the men - not even the hundred or so who have been "cleared" for
release. Shaker Aamer was cleared for release over two years ago.

The
irony of some of the resettlement cases couldn't be starker. For
example, the Uighurs - Muslims from western China - have been resettled
in places such as Albania, Bermuda and the Pacific island of Palau: men
who have suffered detention without trial, torture and abuse cannot be
returned to their homes due to the fear of being detained without
trial, tortured and abused.

There are around 50 men, all cleared
for release by the US administration, who are unable to return to their
countries for fear of torture and execution by states such as China,
Libya, Tunisia and Algeria. The US administration has recognised this
for many years but releasing them is a major problem. Where will they
send them? After eight consecutive and torturous years of demonisation,
labelling them "enemy combatants", "terrorists", "murderers" and "the
worst of the worst" how could the country so collectively traumatised
by the events of 9/11 be expected to simply apologise and say it was
mistaken in treating the men like animals?

Instead, the US calls
upon the rest of the world to fix the problem it created. Last week I
accompanied lawyers for Guantánamo prisoners from Reprieve and the
Centre for Constitutional Rights in an effort to help secure homes in
Europe for some of the 50. In past months I have met with minsters in
Malaysia and Sudan - where the receptions were warm, and the desire to
assist in the resettlement programme positive. However, I was unsure
how such meetings might be perceived in a place such as Luxembourg. I
was pleasantly surprised. Not only did the media cover our visit to the
country with references on several of the front pages but the meeting
with the foreign minister proved warm. We had a long discussion about
the possibility of Luxembourg accepting a couple of the Guantánamo
prisoners. He was not unreceptive to the idea and said he would
consider the request.

David Miliband has told the Aamer family
that Britain is still calling for the return of Shaker Aamer. At the
same time, it is believed that the government has documents that
contain evidence that confessions he made were obtained through
torture, the disclosure of which they are trying to block in court on
grounds of "public interest". In light of the torture meted out to
Shaker and the deaths that occurred the night he was suffering some of
that torture, the public interest seems best served by openness.

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Further

To those who consider Trump a reptilian shape-shifter, mazel tov: Now he officially is one. Thanks to a species-naming auction for Rainforest Trust, a small, blind, worm-like, newly discovered amphibian who buries its head in the ground will be named Dermophis donaldtrumpi. The name, says its creator, is "perfect" for the new caecilian, from the Latin for "blind...perfectly mirroring the strategic vision (Trump) has consistently shown towards climate change.”

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